For my second ecochallenge, also focusing on waste, I decided to free myself from all of the random mail I get sent by taking the time to go paperless. I do not receive tons and tons of mail, however, I do get lots from OHP, food stamps, my old car insurance ( I don't even have a car anymore..), and my phone provider! It took me around 20 minutes to unsubscribe from additional sales/ offers, thanks to my laptop knowing all my passwords! While I was at it, I started unsubscribing from random email spam too, just for fun; I will be curious if I actually stop receiving mail from OHP because if you know, you know that they are ruthless:,) Overall, it took a lot less time than I assumed, maybe in the following weeks I will update!

For this week’s eco-challenge, I reviewed resources and learned about sustainable energy for 30 minutes, as well as doing an online at-home energy audit of my apartment to learn where energy use could be improved. It was suggested by Energy Trust of Oregon that I utilize PGE’s low income program or use their energy saving tips. I was also recommended to use a different material in the window frames if possible. I currently live in an older apartment building and there aren’t many ways to improve the energy use on my end without receiving agreement from the building owners. While there are small improvements that could be made such as water usage, I am on the third floor and have so little water pressure that water-saving attachments for the shower and sinks would be ineffective.

In order to save plastic bags, I choose to use my gym bag instead of going to the supermarket. This bag has a large capacity, which is equivalent to about two bags. At my purchase frequency, I could theoretically save about 40 bags per quarter. What a staggering number

For my challenge this week, I decided to do a personal waste audit. I tried to be really mindful every time I threw something away- what was it? why was I throwing it away? Did it serve a purpose in my life that could be served by something that wasn't single use? I found that most of what I was throwing away was food related. Almost everything I buy at the grocery store seems to come in plastic of some kind, aside from fruit and veggies. It's interesting to me that there is such a large conversation about bringing your own bags to the store, but the main problem to me seems to be the plastic that so many products are already packaged in. At work, the main things I threw away were gloves and paper towels. I use plastic gloves both to avoid spreading pathogens and cross contamination of food, and also because the sanitizer solution we use irritates my skin so I can't come into direct contact with it. I'm not sure what the solution is here. I think one reason restaurants are so unsustainable is because we have to use so much single use plastic just to follow health code. I think one positive thing I've taken away from working in restaurants is that I'm now much more conscious of the waste associated with take out food. I try to only dine in when I'm eating out, rather than getting food to go. One change that would be pretty easy if people were interested in it would be to start normalizing bringing Tupperware to take left overs when eating out. Even though a lot of takeout containers are that brown cardboard material that makes them look "eco-friendly," they are lined with petroleum-based wax to prevent leakage. This sort of turned into a tangent, but the conclusion is that I'm going to continue this waste audit and see if there are other ways I can throw away less, especially when it comes to groceries.

This week, I chose to do the Personal Waste Audit and collect my non-recyclable and compostable waste in order to raise my awareness about the kinds and amount of waste that I produce. I collected approximately half a bag of trash and found that the type of plastic waste I produce the most is from bulk items rather than individually packaged ones. I am often guilty of buying individually packaged items for convenience, but grocery items that I bought this week such as cheese, bagels, and tangerines all came in plastic packaging. I never put as much consideration into the packaging of items that weren’t individually wrapped, since it seemed like the waste produced from these products would be lesser. A big challenge of this action was not throwing everything away right away because it felt like it was cluttering up my space. Keeping it with me made me feel a sense of disgust, but by reflecting on that disgusted feeling I realized that the origin of it was actually a sense of guilt because I was subconsciously aware that if the trash was not clean enough to be in my home, that it was harming the environment as well. The Systems Thinking Iceberg Model from Session 1 of our textbook definitely came into play during my experience for this project. I realized that I was using a lot of plastic, which led to me realizing that I use more plastic when I do not pay attention to the packaging of bulk items and when I am buying for convenience. This led me to understand that I was not paying attention to the packaging of bulk items because I was making the assumption that they left a smaller footprint and that I was buying for convenience to save time. However, because of this activity I now realize that bulk foods can still leave a large plastic footprint and that the convenience of plastic packaging is not worth the harm that it inflicts on the planet and the disgust that comes from when the plastic must be disposed of. The rewarding thing about this experience was gaining more awareness and control over what I choose to purchase. For produce, instead of prepackaged tangerines, I will bring my own bags and pick out the produce that is not prepackaged. I can also substitute some of the foods I bought, like pre-made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, for the raw ingredients and make bulk batches at home. Also, for some drink products like apple juice, I can find these products in glass or cardboard containers. For glass containers especially I can reuse the containers for my own homemade goods.

This week, I decided to stop buying drinks at coffee shops—where I usually used plastic cups 2 to 3 times a week—and instead started buying sustainable matcha to make my own matcha lattes at home. I noticed that not only did I enjoy the process in the morning and become more mindful of the ingredients I was using, but I also felt less guilty about the money I was spending. It made me realize how much this new consumer world convinces us that we’re not capable of making a latte as good as an expensive coffee shop can. But really, it's just a form of brainwashing that encourages this type of behavior and makes us addicted to buying unnecessary products—many of which we can easily make ourselves at home.

For my eco-challenge, I chose to use a reusable bag for all the shopping I did this week. Usually, I never thought about bringing one when I go out to shop because I am not used to carrying a bag when I head out the door. It is not something that I did not want to do, but I simply never brought up the idea of developing a habit. My actions were pretty straightforward, but the only challenge I faced was reminding myself to bring a bag every time I went out to shop. In this photo, I went to the grocery store to buy fruits and milk, and the bag I used here is handmade and woven from the Philippines.
Usually, when I go out to shop, the bags that stores provide me are paper, and I typically thought that getting those was already sustainable. When stores give me a plastic bag, I reuse it anyway and store it in a container. Most likely, the bags are being reused for replacement trash bags for smaller trash bins in my house, as well as simple trash bags to add to the car. That is why I never thought once about bringing reusable bags; I repurpose them anyway.

For this week's eco challenge about waste I chose to be more diligent about using reusable bags when grocery shopping. I went to get groceries 3 times this week (at either Trader Joe's or Safeway) and also purchased a few more cloth tote bags from Trader Joe's so that I had enough to carry everything whenever I need groceries. Previously I had usually forgotten to bring reusable bags with me and therefore needed to use disposable bags in order to transport everything home. This week I chose to be very intentional with limiting the waste I was causing by forgetting to bring my own bags. I have noticed that this simple topic of using bags when purchasing goods is extremely prevalent in consumerism. Almost all stores that you walk into will have plastic bags and will automatically bag your purchases, even if those bags only serve the purpose of transporting those goods from the store to the parking lot. An article from The Center for Biological Diversity shares facts about plastic bag use, including the astounding fact that 5 trillion plastic bags are used every year! Imagine if everyone had their own reusable bags and used them every time they went to the store, not just for groceries but for everything! This topic got me thinking about waste in other ways too. Waste, in this context, is primarily defined as "unusable remains", but what truly makes something unusable? So many people, including myself, will throw items in the trash that we think no longer serve a purpose, but is that objectively true? If we all start to think about the definition of waste more, can we hold ourselves more accountable to evaluate the uses of items we are likely to throw away? I believe that living more sustainably and contributing to waste less is not just about buying reusable grocery bags, but it is a shift in mindset, thinking about how we define waste and how we can base our actions on whether something will be wasteful or the reusability of something.

For this week’s challenge to reduce waste, I decided to research composting in Beaverton. Since I live in an apartment building, I am not eligible for curbside pickup of compostables, yard debris and recycling. I think a lot of people who want to compost (but aren’t necessarily using the compost themselves) can understand. What should I do with my compost if I don’t have a yard? The point of composting is to reduce food waste by recycling the nutrients and using it to feed soil. I want to start a herb garden but it won’t be large enough. I decided to walk around my community and see if there are any nearby composting bins I could use, but I had no luck even at the community garden.